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Senate and European Union

The Senate, like the Chamber of Deputies and other national Parliaments in EU Member States, is involved in the process of shaping the policies of the European Union. It debates and delivers opinions on European legislative proposals before they have been approved in the Council of the EU. The Senate deals also with other strategic documents submitted by European institutions. Thereby it gets involved in the European legislative process, be it via its relationship to the government or through direct communication with the European Commission. Moreover, it participates in exchange of information among the national Parliaments and the European Parliament.

The role of the national Parliaments in the EU decision-making process changed significantly after the Lisbon Treaty entered into force in December 2009. Attempts to involve the national Parliaments more intensively in EU affairs are aimed at bringing the EU closer to the citizens. At the same time it enables the communication of positions of national legislators on European proposals at early stage of negotiations.

In the process of ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the Rules of Procedure of both Czech parliamentary chambers were amended, in order to implement new powers entrusted to the national Parliaments and develop them further.

Information about current events from the European Union is provided to the members of the Czech Senate via so called Weekly brief overview of events in the EU (available only in Czech). These overviews are focused mainly on meetings, flash news, decisions of the EU institutions and on other important political events. Monthly reports on the EU scrutiny in the Senate (available only in Czech) provide information about the scrutiny of EU documents in the Senate. These reports keep members of the Czech Senate informed about the EU documents that were discussed in the Senate during the previous month and about adopted resolutions.